Advantages

Disadvantages

Summary: Sturdy and built to last

First and foremost I am amazed that this actual toy is still in my house and still in one piece. I remember buying this Mega-sketcher for my son when he was around 3 or 4 years old, he is now 14 and to this day it still has a place in his wardrobe. I remember he was crazy on Thomas the Tank Engine and he had many associated toys and games. Okay to be fair I doubt he has played with it for a long time but the fact it still remains in one piece to me is quite amazing.

The Thomas the Tank Engine Mega-sketcher is along the same lines as the Magna Doodle, there are also many other different themed toys of this kind. It's basically a sketching area surrounded by different magnetic shapes which are used to draw with on the sketching area, at the side there is a very annoying slider which is pulled down in order to erase the picture and start afresh, now I say it's annoying because the noise it makes as it erases the picture goes right through me. Amongst the magnetic shapes is a little roller piece which is used for drawing the train track real quick and there is the special magnetic pencil which is attached with coloured string to the sketcher itself so it doesn't get lost, very clever idea. All the magnetic shapes have their own places where they slot in nice and neatly. The overall shape of the sketcher is of course that of Thomas the Tank Engine and the toy itself is quite a fair size, giving lots of room for drawing and printing with the magnetic shapes.

When my son first got his sketcher he was over the moon with it and spent lots and lots of time playing with it, much to my annoyance of the eraser. There have been many occasions in the past where we have played games together with the sketcher, taking it in turns to guess what the other was drawing before we had finished it. I used to like to sit and squiggle away on it but if I went wrong I'd just find something else to do, I wasn't going to suffer erasing it, I'd rather just move on.

Over time it has been dropped more times than I care to remember both inside and out but the toy remains, even to this day in great condition. It is really well put together and I'm very impressed in just how long it has lasted and it still works today.

I really cannot remember how much I paid for the Tomy Thomas the Tank Engine Mega-sketcher but I do remember I got it from Argos. Amazon was selling it but it's currently unavailable, however Toys R Us has a variant of this sketcher for sale at the moment which costs around £20.00. It sounds like a lot of money but it's worth it because I can assure you it will last.

All good things.....

It's like the end of an era for me as I sort through all my son's old toys, ready to pack the ones that are of any use, off to the local charity shop so some other child can enjoy them for a while, and because my son has always taken care of everything he has, I do have a fair few things to pack up. Children grow up so fast a sad but true fact of life.